In the field of containers, such as jewelry boxes, for holding and displaying merchandise, it is advantageous that the container be easily openable and closable, that it operate reliably and yet be inexpensive to produce. In addition, it is desirable that a producer be able to produce containers of various sizes capable of exhibiting a variety of appearances.
Jewelry boxes have been produced which comprise a body and a cover hinged together with a biasing device such as a tempered metal spring clip connected at the hinge to move the body and the cover together in a snap action, while allowing the box to remain open in a fully open position. For example, jewelry boxes have been made from cardboard comprising a body member and a cover member, a metal hinge secured to the members and a spring clip attached to the metal hinge to bias the members toward one another around the hinge. A felt or other decorative covering is used to hide the cardboard and present a pleasant appearance. Other jewelry boxes have been made with body and cover members of metal, with a separate, attached hinge, a spring clip and a decorative covering, as are used with the cardboard boxes. Still other jewelry boxes have been made from plastic body and cover members, each of which has small projections which engage and cooperate with the projections of the other member to define a hinge when the members are held together and biased closed by a spring clip or other biasing device secured to the members. The outer surfaces of the plastic members can be formed with a dull finish or a shiny finish, they can be embossed with a pattern to simulate leather or other material, or a flocking material like felt can be sprayed or otherwise applied to the members.
Each of the prior art boxes described above has a number of drawbacks. For some, a separate hinge must be attached, which adds to the cost of producing the box. In addition, for at least those boxes which provide a hinge defined by projections on the body and cover members, the body and cover members differ, thus requiring the manufacturing of two different types of members for each box produced. Therefore, two different dies or molds, each of which represents a major capital expenditure, are required to produce each size and style of box. Furthermore, the members of the prior art boxes are limited to a predetermined capacity, and so varying the capacity requires the production of entirely different members by still other dies or molds.